There isn't a Stoke City fan in the land who doesn't believe that Jack Butland should be the England goalkeeper.

And for those pundits and England managers out there who continue to press the claims of Joe Hart, just take a look at the evidence on show as Butland almost denied Romelu Lukaku his goal for Manchester United at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday evening... and then pulled off the injury-time save to certainly deny the visitors what would have been an undeserved three points.

He did the same the last time the TV cameras were at the home of the Potters when it was Arsenal realising just how good Stoke’s young goalkeeper is.

Now Potters boss Mark Hughes has had his say… and not surprisingly he is as baffled as most Stokies as to why England boss Gareth Southgate persists with Hart as his number one.

As always, we will bring you all the latest Stoke City news, rumours and gossip as it breaks throughout the day. And we want to hear from you too, so please send us your views via our dedicated Stoke City Facebook and Twitter accounts.

16:22

Tickets on general sale for Newcastle and Bristol City games

Prices for Newcastle on Saturday are £30 for adults down to £16 for concessions, while in the League Cup at Bristol City next Tuesday they are £12 for adults down to £5 for cheapest concessions.

St James' Park (Image: Getty)

16:01

One for the nostalgics out there

On this day 55 years ago Dennis Viollett scored four times in a 6-3 win at home to Charlton.

Don Ratcliffe and Keith Bebbington added the other goals on a memorable afternoon at the Victoria Ground back in September 1962.

Just 11,596 turned out that day for the Second Division clash, but Stoke went on to win promotion under Tony Waddington that season and within 12 months the club was playing in front of 40,000 at the Vic back in the top flight.

Viollett, whose reputation was made at Manchester United, joined Stoke in January 1962 and would score 66 goals in just over 200 games during his five years in the Potteries.

And he would later become one of the exalted former Stoke players to have a road named after him next to the bet365 Stadium.

Dennis Viollet (Image: Getty)

15:25

Fletch explains himself

Some may have noticed he wasn’t exactly jumping for joy after Stoke’s goals on Saturday and joining the rest of the players in celebrating either of Choupo-Moting’s goals.

Indeed, he was more intent on having a word with his manager.

Here, in part of an interview that will appear in full later, the 33 year-old veteran explains all...

“I was just making sure we got a bit of tactical input... and you can’t be wasting energy celebrating, you’ve got to be saving your legs!

Darren Fletcher takes charge against United on Saturday (Image: Getty)

13:22

Jonjo back for Stoke game?

Jonjo Shelvey has served his three-match ban for treading on Tottenham and England star Dele Alli on the opening day of the season and was on the bench at Swansea last weekend.

He played in an under-23 game last night that left manager Peter Beardsley commenting afterwards: “In terms of the way he was around the group, he was top class. That was a big bonus for them.”

Ouch! Jonjo Shelvey treads on Dele Alli and is sent off (Image: Getty)

13:02

Interesting read for students of systems

Gerald Sinstadt delves into formations and how Stoke are now a follower of fashion.

Rafa back for Stoke clash

Rafa Benitez... hardly been having a ball over the past few days (Image: Getty)

09:51

Let's hope they've been cleaned...

09:50

Was Jose trying to be clever?

Italian journalist Gabriele Marcotti has said on ESPN that Mourinho deliberately created a media storm about his non handshake and after-match comments about Stoke not trying to win the game just to deflect attention from the fact that United didn’t win it.

He says, and he might just have a point: “...he adds these layers of mystery, this is what he does.

“He sticks up for his team by going and making the story about him, acting like a human lightning rod.

“What he was thinking was ‘right now we’ve dropped points for the first time this season, we have the Champions League coming up, I know what we’ll do, let’s go and give them (media) something completely different to talk about’ and he did it masterfully and we’re all falling for it.

“I guarantee it, neither Mark Hughes or Jose Mourinho care one iota about the handshake or the non-handshake.”

Time for one more poke at Jose Mourinho

Martin Smith’s weekly column will appear later this morning, but here’s a taster you might enjoy...

...if he’s upset that our manager said some nasty words to him when he encroached into a technical area he shouldn’t have been heading towards in the first place, then boo-hoo.

Perhaps he should look at it as a ‘man to man’ incident, during the heat of battle – nothing like the one where he and Chelsea settled out of court for the foul-mouthed abuse that was hurled at a FEMALE trainer a couple of seasons ago!

It’s a man’s game. Start acting like one.

08:59

Roy's big bonus

Today’s PL gossip has news on why former England boss jumped at the chance to manage Palace.

No Buts...

Mark Hughes has entered the debate over who is England’s No 1 goalkeeper. And what does he think? Well put it this way, the Stoke City manager isn’t pushing the claims of Joe Hart. Here’s what he has had to say...

Jack Butland lets it all out after victory over Arsenal (Image: Getty)

07:38

Giving it Max...

Lou Macari isn’t a man who is easily impressed. But the former Stoke City manager and Sentinel columnist was quick to applaud the Max Choupo-Moting show after the summer arrival fired two goals past Manchester United... and point out the comparative failings of another Stoke City player. Here’s what he has had to say...

2-2! Max Choupo- Moting heads home his and Stoke's second (Image: Getty)